Ringgit drops to new all-time low vs greenback in early session

KUALA LUMPUR: The ringgit depreciated to a fresh all-time low against the US dollar at the opening today, due to the higher-than-expected reading of the United States (US) Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, which signals that a significant increase in the US interest rate might be on its way, a dealer said.

At 9 am, the local currency slid to 4.6920/6965 against the greenback from Thursday's close of 4.6910/6940.

According to international news reports, the US CPI rose to 8.2 per cent in September, compared with the forecast of 8.1 per cent.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said experts predict the interest rate to end the year between 4.5 per cent and 4.75 per cent.

"The interest rate is at 3.25 per cent now and there are still two more Federal Reserve meetings in November and December, with the possible increase of 0.75 per cent next month and another 0.74 per cent in December," he said in a note today.

From the technical point of view, he said the US dollar/ringgit is currently holding a reading of 90.90 on the Relative Strength Index indicator, which shows an extreme overbought situation and a breakout below 4.6400 could make room for a more important drop in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local note shrank against the British pound to 5.3052/3103 from 5.2291/2324 at Thursday's close, slipped vis-a-vis the euro to 4.5831/5875 from 4.5625/5654 and slid versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2963/2997 from 3.2726/2752 yesterday.

However, it appreciated against the Japanese yen to 3.1843/1877 from 3.1957/1980 previously.

-- BERNAMA